from Hilary Canty
It is our pleasure to announce the Orcas Island Community Foundation’s commitment to support the development and implementation of a “Community Resource Hub” for the island.
Almost two years ago, the OICF Board approved an initial allocation of funds designed to address a targeted set of unmet needs which had been identified by the Foundation’s Island-wide “Community Needs Assessment” research project. Based on the data generated by that project, the Foundation began work to help increase access to high quality physical, dental and mental health support. The Dental Van Project was a part of this initial investment and has been remarkably successful in delivering needed and valued services that had previously been unavailable in our community.
The Community Needs Assessment research project also identified a second important area that needed to be quickly addressed: while Orcas is rich in individual programs and non-profit services, individuals and families had reported difficulties in discovering what services were, in fact, available to them, which they qualified for, and how best to access the specific services they needed. As no single place or person or central clearinghouse of information existed, they were left on their own without any understanding or help of how best to navigate this wealth of disparate information and services.
In responding to this clearly expressed need, the Board of the Foundation approved a process to create an integrated, user-friendly “Community Resource Hub” which would serve as a physical place individuals and families could go to access both a database containing all the information about the available medical, dental and mental health support on our island, as well as to persons who can help them gain access to the exact services they need.
The Foundation has considered how best to develop this idea, and has decided to engage the entire community to help make our commitment to the Community Resource Hub a reality. We ask that you (and any other partners you might want to work with) share your ideas as to how we can plan, launch and sustain this Community Resource Hub.
Our broad goals for the Community Resource Hub are:
- To serve all Orcas Island residents, with a particular focus on community members who are experiencing difficulties in finding the services that would help them meet their critical immediate or long-term needs in the areas of health, safety, housing and nutrition (and others);
- To create a physical place where both professional and trained community volunteers can work to aid and advise individual and families who have unmet needs;
- To help create an institution capable of sustaining and expanding its work through stable financial and human resources.
Please take the time to consider responding to this request. We are still in the exploratory stages of this work and are looking to open a dialogue with you to help garner the very best of our community’s thoughts and ideas. We’ve included a few guiding questions below to help you organize your response. We look forward to receiving your response by November 1. Please email or mail your response to: Hilary Canty, Executive Director.
Guiding Questions for a Letter of Interest: (These questions may be answered either from your perspective as an individual, an organization, or collaboratively.)
1. What strikes you as the most exciting opportunity for you or your organization to contribute to the Community Resource Hub?
2. What qualifications and skills do you or your organization bring to the project that you feel are unique and instrumental to the success of this project?
3. What additional resources would you or your organization need for this opportunity to be realized – human, financial, facilities?
4. Would you be available to have conversations with Foundation staff/board members about your interest; and then to be involved in potential collaborative efforts to launch the Community Resource Hub over the next 6 – 8 months?
